A New Brooklyn Fare for Manhattan, Prized White Truffles and More

As well stocked as Brooklyn Fare in Boerum Hill may be, its new Manhattan store, opening on Friday, has an even more dizzying array of products, often organic and artisanal, crammed into 11,000 square feet. You can satisfy your ice cream yen with Jeni’s, Phin & Phebes and Adirondack, among others, or pick up fresh tortellini made in-house. They sell their own flavored infused olive oils, right. For the prepared foods, Moe Issa, the owner, brought in Jared Sippel, a Colorado chef who has worked in France and Italy. The pastry chef is Alex Grunert, and Hamed Doumbia is in charge of bread, made fresh several times a day. A 45-seat restaurant is to open by the end of November: 431 West 37th Street, (212) 216-9700, brooklynfare.com.

Photo

Credit
Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

To Indulge: Time to Save Up: It’s Truffle Season

This year’s crop of prized white truffles from the Piedmont region of Italy and elsewhere is more plentiful and of higher quality than it was in the last couple of seasons. And the prices are about a third less than last year’s, hovering around $7 a gram. (A decent portion, for shaving over a plate of pasta, risotto or carpaccio, will measure four to five grams.) The lifting of a 100 percent tariff late last year helped to lower prices. Many restaurants are serving white truffles now, and some of them are passing along the savings. At NoMad, they are $32 for four grams, $64 for a lavish eight: Fresh white truffles retail for about $150 to $200 an ounce (approximately 28 grams) at Eataly, Urbani Truffles, Baldor Specialty Foods and SOS Chefs.

Photo

Credit
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

To Slice: Protecting a Blade and Hands That Use It

With this collapsible mezzaluna, the Joseph Joseph company extends its track record of efficient, well-designed kitchen gadgets. The handles fold in, switchblade style, to protect the sharp, curved stainless-steel blade of the chopper when it’s not attacking a pile of herbs or mushrooms. It also protects the digits of anyone rummaging in a drawer or on a counter: Joseph Joseph mezzaluna, $15 at the Museum of Modern Art store, momastore.org, (800) 447-6662.

Photo

Credit
Film Arcade

To View: The Real Meaning of Making Food

There’s shock value and a poignant edge to the new documentary film “Spinning Plates,” a chronicle of life at three very different restaurants, Alinea in Chicago; Breitbach’s Country Dining in Balltown, Iowa; and La Cocina de Gabby in Tucson. The director, Joseph Levy, shows details as mundane as the daily setting of tables and the shaping of pastry. But the tension and drama come from the personal stories of the people running the restaurants and how they affect the character of each place: “Spinning Plates,” directed by Joseph Levy, opens Friday at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema.

Fill the plastic pumpkin at the front door with candy bar minis for the trick-or-treaters, but save this sleek chocolate pumpkin for deserving grown-ups. The smart owl knows that it’s chock-full of fine chocolate-covered toffee pieces and almonds: Dark- or milk-chocolate pumpkin, filled with treats, about one pound, $65 at La Maison du Chocolat stores.

Photo

Credit
Agaton Strom for The New York Times

To Refuel: Stopping By Bubby’s, Just Off the High Line

Bubby’s has brought its baked goods and more to the crowds on the High Line who may be looking for takeaway foods or a place to perch. An old-fashioned soda fountain will serve up homemade ice cream confections. There are breakfast pastries, sandwiches and salads, and it will even prepare a picnic for you to take across the street to the promenade. For late-night strollers, the takeout window will sell tacos, burgers and pulled pork sandwiches starting at 11 p.m. The restaurant serves comfort food in a loftlike space with vintage details, schoolhouse chairs, a bright blue ceiling and a big outdoor cafe: Bubby’s High Line, 73 Gansevoort Street (Washington Street), (212) 206-6200, bubbys.com; open 6 a.m. to 4 a.m. daily.

Photo

To Sip: Japanese Whiskeys: Grow Into Their Own

Japanese whiskeys, in the past regarded by Americans as little more than Scotch imitators, have been gaining a following in recent years for having a style all their own: a silky texture and subtle complexity of flavor that comes partly from experimentation with blending. This fall, the Japanese distiller Nikka, which began exporting to the United States last fall, is introducing four offerings: Coffey Grain, a chewy grain whiskey with coconut notes produced from stills modeled after the 1830 design by the Irishman Aeneas Coffey; the smoky, yet floral 12-year-old Miyagikyo Single Malt; the rich and silky 17-year-old Taketsuru Pure Malt; and 21-year-old Taketsuru Pure Malt, a deep, polished elixir. Like most Japanese whiskeys, these deeply finessed creations come at a cost: They’ll be priced at $70, $120, $150 and $180 respectively for 750 milliliters at the Park Avenue Liquor Shop and Astor Wines and Spirits starting in November. — ROBERT SIMONSON